ESPN Forecast Panel Ranks Lakers As The 16th Best Front Office In The NBA

The Los Angeles Lakers are at the beginning of a potentially extensive rebuilding process. The storied franchise will have a high pick in the 2014 NBA Draft, multiple contracts coming off the books and a considerable amount of cap space at their disposal.

Unfortunately, the 2013-14 NBA season has been brutal for this franchise to say the least. Injuries have ripped this team apart with Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash, Pau Gasol and countless others going down throughout the season.

With the Lakers dealing with one of their worst seasons in franchise history, ESPN’s #NBAfrontofficerank has not been favorable for the 16-time NBA champions.

According to ESPN’s #NBArank for management, the Lakers have the 16th best front office in the NBA behind historically bad front offices like the Brooklyn Nets (No. 15), Los Angeles Clippers (No. 14) and the Toronto Raptors (No. 13):

For the past couple of seasons, the ESPN Forecast panel consists of more than 200 members who possess vast NBA experience, knowledge, and perspective. While they have usually ranked players and teams in the off-season, this is the first time they have ranked management. The members of the panel were asked to rate every owner, basketball decision-maker and coach on a scale of 0 to 10.

With the Lakers on the cusp of potentially major changes in the off-season, this ranking could change at this point next season. The team will make some moves this summer with a potential game-changer with the high draft pick and or trades that might be in the works.

It’ll be interesting to see how things pan out for the Lakers in the off-season with so much on the line in terms of the future of the franchise. Mitch Kupchak and company will have the tools at their disposal in order to rebuild quickly and plan to do so.
________________________________________________________________________________Lakers’ Kobe Bryant Meets With Jim Buss, ‘Goal Is To Win And Win Now’